Jimmy Page - Guitar Heroes A-Z

The deceptively simple and easy-to-play combination of simple and complex droning chord voicings that Page concocted for “The Rain Song” are presented without rhythmic reference in Ex.1, but after listening to the recording you should have little trouble piecing together the puzzle. (Tip: Try it on a 12-string.) In another stroke of brilliance, Page was probably the first guy to come up with the forehead-smackingly simple solution for playing whammy-style glissandi on a stop-tail Les Paul by hammering-on and pulling-off notes while bending and releasing the string behind the nut with his pick hand. Examples 2 and 3 illustrate this technique, which has since become one of rock’s most enduring Spinal Tap moves.